Ladbrokes closes its bookies at Cheltenham
LADBROKES have put the padlocks on their two betting shops at Cheltenham racecourse in a dramatic response to being replaced as sponsors of the World Hurdle at next month’s Festival.
With no prospect of another company being brought in to run them, Cheltenham supremo Ian Renton last night conceded the move would ‘regrettably lead to some inconvenience’ for racegoers.
The two Ladbrokes shops include one in Cheltenham’s Centaur centre which the company described as ‘probably the busiest betting shop in Britain during Festival week’.
Ladbrokes have sponsored the World Hurdle since 2005 but have been replaced by Ryanair, who already sponsor the big steeplechase on what is the third day of the meeting. The move is the latest twist in the bitter row between the sport and the betting industry over attempts to strike a deal on levy payments on bets placed online and processed overseas.
Only four companies have so far made a deal — Betfair, Bet365, 32Red and Fitzdares — and there is still no sign of an agreement.
The Jockey Club, which owns Cheltenham, has vowed not to enter new commercial agreements with non-ABP (authorised betting partner) firms.
Ladbrokes said they could not resolve being barred as a sponsor with being invited to continue running the racecourse shops.
Spokesman David Williams said: ‘We will 100 per cent not be opening the shops. We have informed Cheltenham. We cannot reconcile the fact that we cannot sponsor the World Hurdle but were told we were welcome to run the shops.
‘That is not something we can justify to our board. It does not make sense to us. We will be stripping the shops of Ladbrokes livery before the Festival and operate where we are welcome. We absolutely wanted to sponsor the World Hurdle and run the shops. This makes us a combination of sad and angry but under the circumstances we cannot envisage becoming an ABP.’ It is understood Ladbrokes’ continued sponsorship of the World Hurdle was still being discussed last week. Cheltenham will try to fill the void left by the departure of Ladbrokes but Renton said: ‘We are looking to see what we can do as an alternative.
‘We don’t anticipate another operator stepping in in the short term.’
Ladbrokes high street rivals Betfred have already stood down as sponsors of the Gold Cup over the ABP dispute. They have been replaced by telecoms firm Timico.
Meanwhile, Victoria Pendleton (left) takes an important step in her bid to race at Cheltenham when riding proposed Festival mount Pacha Du Polder in the Hunter Chase at Fakenham today.